English is not my native tongue

[acgifford]

Eeh. Eeeeh... Awkward subject. English is sort of a second language for me. I was born hard of hearing, see?

Hard to say where one language begins and the other ends, but they are related to one another. No one came before the other, but English is my primary language. American Sign Language [abbreviated ASL] is my secondary language.

As soon as my mom learned I had hearing that could be salvaged it was all emphasis on spoken English! Adapted to English because it's much more practical to use, but picking up on things like syntax and the fine art of pronunciation was a bear growing up. Still mispronounce lots of words. I do much better with written and visual language.

I don't actually think in language so much as I think in pictures, which makes a lot of what comes out of my mouth disjointed and silly. My sign language is actually somewhat out of practice these days, but I regularly think, count, and "babble" in it [mostly finger spelling]. Got to take some formal courses in ASL for high school to meet the foreign language requirement, helped me remember lots- toss me back into the language and I pick up on it in no time!

I have a friend at work that is hard of hearing. In the beginning of her life she didnt have hearing aids. Now she does. ^^ She doesnt always hear all of what you say even with the hearing aids, but she can read your lips. When she cant hear me, I turn to her and talk to her. This is so she can see what Im saying.(No I dont speak slowly or over unnunciate(sp). She hates that.lol) I believe she can use sign language.(I cant.:/) She also has trouble saying some words. I sure love her. She is a hard worker and a good friend.

[junomoule]

The invisible [to me] accent is a familiar story. Hearing aids? Blech! Try to stay away from 'em when and where possible, got one to use n'all but save it for when I really need it- in a casual setting I'm content to read lips.

Totally with your bud, AC. Slow-speaking and over-enunciation is kind of demeaning, actually makes words more difficult to lipread anyhow. Louder doesn't necessarily mean clearer, either... depends on the person though, most of those things do!

Aah, but this is a thread about language! D'oh... Well, I can throw in that ASL is a practical asset in the USA; it can be used with the same basic effectiveness in Mexico and Canada. Can be nice for getting over "language barriers" in some cases. It also makes you really good at charades.

Also really admire anyone who is willing to try and learn a new language, let alone master one. That means there are an awful lot of cool people in this thread.

[Sapphire225]

English is my native language, but I can speak proficiently in french. However, it seems most of my friends around me speak a different language as their first language.

[samysam]

my english is second language too
i have my special english looooooooooooooooool

[nuni7270]

I was born in Puerto Rico so I speak Spanish. The strange thing is that when I said my first words, I spoke both English and Spanish even though nobody around me spoke English. By the time I reached 8 and I moved to the US I spoke English just as good as anyone else yet I never took English classes. Weird huh?

[Bobtheduck]

Soy el maestro de inglés. Enseño en la escuela.

Um...

El señor vive el abajo.

And that´s about the extent of mi español. I´m learning, though. I´m going through this list:

http://wordsgalore.com/wordsgalore/languages/spanish/spanish1000.html

I figure once I'm done with that, I'll get started on the long work of verb conjugation... I still don't know much grammar, but I think (except for conjugation) Spanish grammar should be easier than Japanese. Different rules for articles is another issue I foresee.

[alma]

I was born in Puerto Rico so I speak Spanish. The strange thing is that when I said my first words, I spoke both English and Spanish even though nobody around me spoke English. By the time I reached 8 and I moved to the US I spoke English just as good as anyone else yet I never took English classes. Weird huh?

Wow, Nuni, I am Puerto Rican also! I was born and raised there.
Nice to see another Boricua in CAA

[Jingo Jaden]

My native tongue is Norwegian. So horrible cases of Norwinglish is downright unavoidable.

[seaglass27]

Dare I point out the mistake in English grammar in that post?

[nuni7270]

Wow, Nuni, I am Puerto Rican also! I was born and raised there.
Nice to see another Boricua in CAA

You know, ReiDaichi is another Boricua. I guessed you spoke Spanish from your username, but then again I use the word Umbra as one of my names yet I don't speak Latin. Thank God for google translate. XD What part are you from?

[VanillaLatte]

My native tongue is English. I think in English, pray in English, speak in English... which is kind of sad when people realize I'm half-Cuban. I can barely speak Spanish (like part of my ethnicity); I'm learning, but it gets difficult, esp. since 1. I'm getting older (which makes learning another language harder & harder), and 2. I just wasn't born with that easy-language-learning gene. For example, some people can learn a language faster than others. I'm certainly not one of those people, unfortunately...

[nuni7270]

[quote="VanillaLatte (post: 1543657)"]My native tongue is English. I think in English, pray in English, speak in English... which is kind of sad when people realize I'm half-Cuban. I can barely speak Spanish (like part of my ethnicity)]

Don't worry about it.....I have a friend that is Dominican yet all he knows how to say in Spanish are foods.

[alma]

You know, ReiDaichi is another Boricua. I guessed you spoke Spanish from your username, but then again I use the word Umbra as one of my names yet I don't speak Latin. Thank God for google translate. XD What part are you from?

Yeah, I talked with Rei, that was really nice.
I am from the north, metropolitan area, but went to school in Canovanas and lived also in Rio Grande, where my dad's is from.

[nuni7270]

Oh, I'm from Ponce. We were separated by about 35 miles. XD